Viacheslav Yatsko

Bewildering Stories biography

Viacheslav Yatsko is a well-unknown Siberian author who has never published in a paper journal. Currently he is marketing his works, which are all available on the Internet. They include a fairy tale in verse, satirical poems (in Russian), short stories, an article and song lyrics (in English). His works are full of humor, irony, and satire. They make fun of some realities of life in contemporary Russia.

V. Yatsko is also a well-unknown expert in computational linguistics who currently works as a full professor in the Department of Information Technologies and Systems and Head of Computational Linguistics Laboratory at Katanov State University of Khakasia located in Abakan. He has taught Applied Linguistics, Methods of Linguistic Research, Information Retrieval Theory, Current Trends in Computer Science courses (some syllabi are available at vetsky.narod2.ru.

Abakan, located near the Sayany Mountains on the bank of the Abakan River, is the capital of Khakasia, whose native population speaks the Khakas language (one of the Turkic languages). In Khakas “Abakan” means ‘bear’s blood’. According to the legend, a Khakas hunter killed an enormous bear who turned into the mountain, and blood running from his wounds turned into the river. The river was named ‘Abakan’.

In 1996 I got a foreign passport, in which my last name was spelt with initial ‘I’ according to French transliteration rules that had been in use in Russia since the 18th century. In 2000, the Russian Parliament adopted English transliteration rules.

At that time my wife got her foreign passport in which her name was spelt with initial ‘Y’. So we turned out to be two different people: she was ‘Yatsko’ and I was ‘Iatsko’. When traveling abroad we couldn’t stay at the same hotel apartment. Then my foreign passport expired, and I got a new one to become ‘Yatsko’. But I met with a new problem: since 1996 I have published a number of scientific papers as Iatsko. Shall I sign now as Yatsko to turn over a new leaf?

My problems are trifles compared with problems of other Russians who have signed contracts abroad.

This story is a good example of the job done by Russian politicians. They never care for the interests of common people, they work for themselves, they stew in one’s own juice.